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Friday Favorites - A Surgery Clerkship Survival Kit

As I was putting together some Friday favorites for the week, I realized it consisted mostly of sanity inducers for the past 1.5 months on surgery (only a couple weeks left). So heck, why not name it appropriately? I'm also so glad I found a pocket of time between being at the hospital, and studying for the shelf exam to connect with all of you this month. My brain is currently swimming in UWorld information, and it needs a petit break. Let's jump right in!

1. Chamomile tea: My bf and I always have some tea in the evening to unwind from our respective rotations. It's such a nice feeling to have your hands slipped around a warm cup, and a few minutes to disconnect from the studying or the online world.

2. Criminal Minds: I took a few months hiatus from watching CM because I got tired of it, mostly from binging too much during pediatrics. I started up again this week because I found myself getting distracted while studying. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but whenever I've hit 2-3 hrs straight of memorizing/note-taking I need something to keep me rooted in one spot for another 2-5 hours. I've found CM to be the perfect balance of interesting, but not too interesting to distract me. Sherlock is a terrible choice for background noise, it's so good I watch an entire season before I touch a textbook!

3. Baby Lips & Aquaphor: These tubes of moisture have kept my lips somewhat chap-free for the past month in the hospital. Whenever I remember to apply them that is... ^-^ Actually, I ended up getting really sick 2 weeks ago, and the Aquaphor ointment was perfect for applying to the raw skin around my nose.

4. Mophie - This one deserves to be the find of the year. It's a battery pack in a case. A MUST FOR EVERYONE ON ROTATIONS. It no longer dies right when I need to quickly search information on rounds, or when I'm trying to find the fastest route home before leaving the hospital, or in between surgeries when I have to memorize a section of Surgical Recall before the procedure! =P

5. Moleskine hardcover (3.5 x 5.5): I harped about these gems before. It's the perfect notebook to carry around for your rotations. You can write while standing, the paper quality is fantastic, and you can always find your spot with the page marker. Having a notebook instead of loose paper everywhere is so key for studying medicine. I have tons of important notes, and great advice from physicians all logged into these Moleskines.

That's all I got for the week. Please share your weekly/monthly favorites below, or send me a link to your blog post!